Update – Slavery at Sea? Abuse of Indonesian Sailors on Chartered Fishing Vessels

Posted on by February 26, 2012

Last April we posted, Slavery at Sea ? Abuse of Sailors on New Zealand Chartered Fishing Vessels.

Secret papers reveal the government has allowed fishermen from poor countries to be exploited in New Zealand waters.  Workers are fishing in rusting boats turned into high seas sweatshops that take large parts of the country’s $1.4 billion-a-year catch. …  Files obtained under the Official Information Act show the government has known about the problem for some time.

Now, in a six-month investigation, Bloomberg Businessweek had documented similar abuse on at least ten vessels chartered to fish in New Zealand’s waters.

Fishing as Slaves on the High Seas
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Update: Admiral Confirms Nuclear Submarine Ekaterinburg Fully Armed During Fire

Posted on by February 26, 2012

Last week we posted about a report by to the Russian magazine Vlast  that claimed that “Russia [was] … on the verge of the largest man-made disaster since Chernobyl” when a fire broke out on December 29th, 2011 on the K-84 Ekaterinburg, a Russian nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, in a dry-dock in Murmansk.

Despite claims by the Russian Defense Ministry that the submarine’s weapons had been removed prior to entering the drydock, Vlast said that the submarine was fully armed with 16 R-29 intercontinental ballistic missiles, each armed with four nuclear warheads as well as up to 12 torpedoes and anti-submarine missiles, each tipped with either 300 kilograms of high-power military explosive or a nuclear warhead.

Now, the Deputy Commander of the Northern Fleet, Vice Admiral Aleksander Vitko, has confirmed  that the submarine was brought into dock outside Murmansk without first having the weapons removed.  Sparks from welding were reported to have set fire to wooden scaffolding which spread to the rubber acoustic coating on the submarine’s hull. If any of the torpedoes had exploded, it is likely that they could have set off the fuel in the ballistic missiles or damaged the nuclear reactors.

Northern Fleet: The burning submarine was armed
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Rebuilding the Whaleship Charles W. Morgan – First Hull Plank

Posted on by February 25, 2012

The Charles W. Morgan was launched in 1841. She is America’s last surviving wooden whaleship and is the “crown jewel” of the Mystic Seaport Museum collection.  She has been undergoing restoration at the Henry B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport since 2010.  Earlier this week, they installed the first new hull plank, a significant milestone. Museum President, Steve White, drove in the first spike.

First Hull Plank

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Fisher Poets Gathering Underway This Weekend in Astoria

Posted on by February 25, 2012

The 15th Annual Fisher Poets Gathering is underway in Astoria, Oregon.  As the name suggests, it is a gathering where poets of the sea swap verse, music and stories.  Men and women tied to the fishing industry share original poems, stories, songs, memoirs, essays and art in celebration of the work, its people and their concerns.  The gathering runs through tomorrow at Clatsop Community College.  Thanks to Darren O’Brien for pointing it out.

Fishermen Bards Trawl for Meaning

Matt Rutherford Sailing Singlehanded Around the Americas – In Need of Resupply

Posted on by February 25, 2012

Matt Rutherford set out from Annapolis, Maryland last June 11th with an audacious goal. He intended to sail single-handed entirely around the Americas in a 27′ Albin Vega.  He planned to sail a counterclockwise loop up the East Coast, cross the the Arctic via the Northwest Passage, sail down the Pacific Coast of North and South America, around Cape Horn and then back north again to the East Coast of the US.  He has nearly made it. He is currently off the coast of Brazil. His problem now is that nearly everything on his boat is either broken or just worn out.  He is planning a resupply stop off Recife, Brasil and he could really use donations for new parts. Click the link below to learn more and/or make a donation.

Upcoming Resupply, Matt needs your help

From the Washington Post: Annapolis sailor on unprecedented, around-the-Americas odyssey

Thanks to Fernando Costa for passing the news along.

Return to the Mariana Trench – Teams Racing to Dive 6 NM Down

Posted on by February 24, 2012

Virgin Deep Flight Challenger, submersible from one of possibly four attempts to return to the bottom of the Mariana Trench

Fifty two years ago, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and oceanographer Jacques Piccard dove to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste. They were the first, and so far, the only humans to have ventured to the deepest spot in all the the world’s oceans.  Now three and possibly four teams are preparing to return to the depths of the Mariana Trench.

The vessels planning to return to the deepest place on earth include a three man submarine designed and built by Triton Submarines; a one man submarine, the Virgin Deep Flight Challenger, sponsored by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, designed by Graham Hawkes, and to be piloted by Chris Welsh; and a submarine with a two or three man crew developed by DOER Marine. Hollywood director James Cameron is also understood to be preparing for a descent.
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Rum Running – Documentary Now Online at CBC’s “Land and Sea”

Posted on by February 24, 2012

Last week we posted about “Rum Running,” a new documentary which was broadcast last weekend on CBCs “Land and Sea.”   It is now online and definitely worth watching.  It is a fascinating look at when many sailors in Nova Scotia stopped fishing and became international smugglers during Prohibition in the US in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Click here to watch the 21 minute documentary.

The Ruth Montgomery Collection at the Penobscot Marine Museum

Posted on by February 23, 2012

The Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine documents the rich and deep maritime history of the region and the town that was famous for its ship captains. The museum has a wonderful set of on-line, searchable, photography collections documenting the area’s ships, boats and the people who sailed them.  One such collection is a series of close to 500 glass plate negatives from Ruth Montgomery, a sea captain’s daughter from Boothbay that document her life and travels.

The Ruth Montgomery Collection at the Penobscot Marine Museum

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Seabourn Odyssey Rescues Three Men Adrift in the World’s Largest Ocean

Posted on by February 22, 2012

Seaborne rescue boat approaching drifting fishermen

The Pacific Ocean is indeed the world’s largest ocean. It is hard to grasp just how many fisherman from the myriad of islands in the Pacific become lost, are carried away by a storm, break down or run out of fuel and find themselves adrift on this vast ocean. This month we posted “US Army Landing Craft, Great Bridge, Rescues 101 Adrift in the Pacific,” and last November we posted, “Adrift in the Pacific – Two Kiribati Men Missing for 33 Days Come Ashore in Marshall Islands.”  A year before we posted about “Three Teenagers Found Alive after Fifty Days adrift in Pacific Ocean.”   One wonders how many are never found.

This Sunday, the Seaborne Odyssey rescued three fishermen adrift in the Pacific 150 miles southwest of Pago Pago, America Samoa.  The fishermen had sailed from Apia in Western Samoa, had ran out of fuel and had been adrift for nearly three weeks.  This is apparently the second rescue involving a Seabourn ship in less than a year.
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Eight More Bodies Found on the Costa Concordia

Posted on by February 22, 2012

Photo: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP / GETTY IMAGES

The presumed death toll remains at 32 in the sinking of the Costa Concordia.  Today divers located eight more bodies, bringing the number of known dead to 25 while the number of missing and presumed dead dropped to 7.  Only three of the bodies; woman, a girl and a man, were removed from the ship due to worsening weather conditions.  The bodies were taken ashore for identification, a process that can take several days.  One of the bodies was identified, however, as Dayana Arlotti, who was five years old, the only young girl to be lost in the tragedy.  Her father is still listed among the missing.

Divers in Italy Find Eight More Bodies at Costa Concordia Wreck

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$500 Million Treasure of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes Returning Soon to Spain

Posted on by February 22, 2012

Within the next day or so, two Spanish Air Force C-130 transport planes will land at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base to load 17 tons of gold and silver coins and other artifacts recovered from the wreck of the Spanish Navy’s Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes by Odyssey Marine.  The 594,000 coins and other artifacts are valued at $500 million.

In 1804, the British Royal Navy attacked a Spanish treasure fleet off Cape Santa Maria, Portugal, seizing  £900,000 (equivalent to £62,923,000, or $98,638,000 today) in gold and silver.  As the countries were not at war, Spain called the attack piracy, while the British justified as a “necessity of war.”

In 2007, Odyssey Marine salvaged 594,000 gold and silver coins from the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, which exploded and sank during the battle in 1804. As the ship was a naval vessel, the Spanish sued Odyssey, demanding return of the treasure.  After a five year legal battle, the Spanish have won. The coins and artifacts will finally make it to port after 208 years.  The Battle of Cape Santa Maria is finally over.    Thanks to Phil Leon for passing along the news.

ROV Video – Costa Concordia Perched Perilously on Rocks, Bow & Stern

Posted on by February 22, 2012

Video shot by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), roughly a month after the ship ran aground, shows that the Costa Concordia is not sitting evenly on the bottom.  Instead, the 950′ long ship is perched perilously on two rocky outcroppings at the bow and the stern. The rest of the ship’s hull is largely unsupported, except by its own buoyancy. This raises the possibility that the bending stresses on the hull may do serious structural damage and, in the worst case, break the ship in half.

CONCORDIA COULD COLLAPSE UNDER ITS OWN WEIGHT

The problems do not end there however. The rocks on which the bow and stern are suspended are crumbling. The sandy bottom around the rocks and under the ship slopes at an angle of 20 degrees toward deep water.  If the rocks that are now supporting the ship crumble further, it is possible that the ship might slip into deeper water.

ROV Video of Costa Concordia
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Inflatable Fishing Boat Survives Attack by Great White off South Africa

Posted on by February 21, 2012

An inflatable fishing boat has survived an attack by a 7 meter long great white shark off Strandfontein, South Africa. The fisherman were fishing for smooth hound sharks, which great whites consider to be very tasty. As reported by IOL News: One of the passengers had just pulled a smooth hound on to the boat when a great white stuck its head out of the water and took hold of the side of the boat. The shark bit down, puncturing the boat, held on and thrashed for over a minute.  The attack left a gash about half a metre long as well as a number of the shark’s teeth in the boat’s hull, which workers in Kalk Bay harbour admired on Monday.

The inflatable boat, 8m long and 3m wide, and its seven passengers made it safely back to shore.  Thanks to Phil Leon for passing the article along.

Crisis at PortSide, Help Save the Tanker Mary A. Whalen

Posted on by February 20, 2012

PortSide New York is one of the absolutely best waterfront educational organizations in New York harbor.   Centered around the historic coastal tanker Mary A.Whalen, PortSide has sponsored a wide range of great programs ranging from activities for kids and adults, to hosting visiting tall ships, to shanty sings and  even staging opera on the deck of the tanker.  Now Portside is in trouble. For the last six years, the Mary A. Whalen has never had a permanent home.  Now it needs to find one by April 30th.  If not, the old tanker may be scrapped.
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Happy Presidents Day – George Washington’s Schooners

Posted on by February 20, 2012

Admiral Washington?

In the United States, today is celebrated as Washington’s Birthday, also widely known as Presidents Day.  On this the official day of celebration of his birthday, it seems worthwhile to  look back on General George Washington’s navy of 1775 and 1776.

Washington was given command of the Continental Army on June 17th, 1775. The American army had surrounded and outnumbered the British army in Boston, but lacked both muskets, flints and gunpowder, as well as most other supplies. The British, on the other hand, were well supplied by sea. There were, however, fast schooners available in nearby Gloucester. Washington saw the opportunity to raid the British supply lines and supply his troops at the British expense.

In all Washington would send a total of eight armed schooners out to prey on British supply vessels. Oddly, these ships were neither privateers nor part of the as yet unformed Continental Navy. They were, instead, part of the Continental Army and in their 26 months of service, they would capture 55 enemy ships.

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